Response 6

As I sit in the nook area doing my homework I look out the window at the house across the street.  It's a simple house of your standard middle class American.  The mail man pulls up to the driveway and puts the mail in the mailbox.  A man comes out in a wheelchair and reaches for the mail.  He can't quite reach it, but extends a bit more and is able to get it.  As a realize what I am doing I realize that this is exactly what Winston is doing at the beginning of chapter 10.  I never realized the significance of him watching the woman until I took the time to do the same.  The woman is just going through the motions of everyday life: hanging the clothes on the clothesline and singing to herself.  The proles have stayed human.  They understand what it means to love and give of oneself.  The Party has not brainwashed them and convinced them that mere impulses and feelings were of no account. They care about individual relationships, helpless gestures, embraces, and the true valuable things in life.  They did not become hardened inside.  They do not have wealth or power, but they do not wish to.  They have everything that they need.  The proles had managed to hold onto the important things in life and still had morals and feelings.  If Orwell is comparing Americans to the proles, I believe that we are doing just fine.  I understand that this book is a warning and we should take precautions, but I feel like we aren't quite to the point where our lives are in danger.  As long as we care about each other and love deeply we, the proles, have succeeded.